Core Network used<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThe GSMA conducted some initial interviews with 20 Operators (and Operator groups) who are planning to launch 5G in the next 2 years to understand which of the 5 Options they are considering for their deployment plans. Click to read the full document below to read about the results of these interviews and how operators feel about each of the proposed options.<\/p>\n
To read the full document, or to comment or contribute, please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the introduction of 5G, 3GPP has specified 5 possible configurations or \u2018Options\u2019 for connecting to an EPC or new 5G core network (6 if the current 4G system is included).<\/p>\n
The features that distinguish each Option are:<\/p>\n
\n …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"image":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Screenshot-2019-09-18-at-10.06.56.png","json":{"gsma_resources_type":"Document","gsma_resources_thumb":"[23720]","gsma_resources_file":"[]","gsma_resources_multi":null,"gsma_resources_wgr":null,"gsma_resources_video":null,"gsma_resources_image":"[]","gsma_resources_url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/futurenetworks\/wiki\/operator-requirements-for-5g-core-connectivity-options\/","gsma_resources_date":"07-06-2019","gsma_resources_button":"Download"}},"tags":[],"resource_categories":[8977,8975],"algolia_discover_type":[15361],"class_list":["post-39355","gsma_theme_resources","type-gsma_theme_resources","status-publish","hentry","resource_categories-5g","resource_categories-resources","algolia_discover_type-resource"],"yoast_head":"\nGSMA Online Document: Operator Requirements for 5G Core Connectivity Options - Networks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/gsma_resources\/gsma-online-document-operator-requirements-for-5g-core-connectivity-options\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GSMA Online Document: Operator Requirements for 5G Core Connectivity Options\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the introduction of 5G, 3GPP has specified 5 possible configurations or \u2018Options\u2019 for connecting to an EPC or new 5G core network (6 if the current 4G system is included). The features that distinguish each Option are: ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/gsma_resources\/gsma-online-document-operator-requirements-for-5g-core-connectivity-options\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Networks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/GSMA_logo_colour_web.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GSMA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"GSMA Online Document: Operator Requirements for 5G Core Connectivity Options - Networks","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/gsma_resources\/gsma-online-document-operator-requirements-for-5g-core-connectivity-options\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"GSMA Online Document: Operator Requirements for 5G Core Connectivity Options","og_description":"For the introduction of 5G, 3GPP has specified 5 possible configurations or \u2018Options\u2019 for connecting to an EPC or new 5G core network (6 if the current 4G system is included). The features that distinguish each Option are: ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/gsma_resources\/gsma-online-document-operator-requirements-for-5g-core-connectivity-options\/","og_site_name":"Networks","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":1000,"url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/GSMA_logo_colour_web.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@GSMA","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/gsma_resources\/gsma-online-document-operator-requirements-for-5g-core-connectivity-options\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/gsma_resources\/gsma-online-document-operator-requirements-for-5g-core-connectivity-options\/","name":"GSMA Online Document: Operator Requirements for 5G Core Connectivity Options - Networks","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-06-07T10:07:40+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/gsma_resources\/gsma-online-document-operator-requirements-for-5g-core-connectivity-options\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/gsma_resources\/gsma-online-document-operator-requirements-for-5g-core-connectivity-options\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/gsma_resources\/gsma-online-document-operator-requirements-for-5g-core-connectivity-options\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"GSMA Online Document: Operator Requirements for 5G Core Connectivity Options"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/","name":"Networks","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/#organization","name":"GSMA","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GSMA-Logo-Red-RGB_square.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GSMA-Logo-Red-RGB_square.jpg","width":600,"height":600,"caption":"GSMA"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/","https:\/\/x.com\/GSMA","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gsmaonline\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/gsma","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/GSMAOnline","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/GSMA"]}]}},"cats":[{"term_id":8977,"name":"5G","slug":"5g","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":8979,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15473,"count":89,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15391,"name":"5G Communication Services","slug":"5g-communication-services","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15393,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15390,"count":12,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15411,"name":"5G ROI","slug":"5g-return-on-investment","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15413,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15390,"count":13,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15384,"name":"5G Standalone","slug":"5g-standalone","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15386,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":22,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15314,"name":"5G-Advanced","slug":"5g-advanced","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15316,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":28,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15317,"name":"5G-Advanced","slug":"5g-advanced-all-projects","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15319,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15472,"name":"6G","slug":"6g","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15474,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15396,"name":"AI for Networks","slug":"ai-for-networks","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15398,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15395,"count":5,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15459,"name":"Article","slug":"article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15461,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15457,"count":4,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15398,"name":"Capability Exposure\u00a0(NaaS)","slug":"capability-exposure","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15400,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":21,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15458,"name":"Case study","slug":"case-study","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15460,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15457,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15408,"name":"CNTT \/ Aknunet","slug":"cntt-knunet","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15410,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15401,"count":0,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15407,"name":"Communications","slug":"communications","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15409,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15390,"count":9,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15390,"name":"Complete 5G","slug":"complete-5g","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15392,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":14,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15460,"name":"Documents and reports","slug":"documents-and-reports","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15462,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15457,"count":4,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15413,"name":"Enterprise requirements","slug":"enterprise-requirements","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15415,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15390,"count":16,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15409,"name":"Enterprise Use Cases","slug":"enterprise-use-cases","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15411,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":10,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15400,"name":"Events","slug":"events","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15402,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":5,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15412,"name":"GSMA Fusion - Demand","slug":"gsma-fusion-demand","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15414,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15398,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15468,"name":"Infrastructure","slug":"infrastructure","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15470,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":0,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15395,"name":"Mobile AI","slug":"mobile-ai","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15397,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":6,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":9667,"name":"MWC Barcelona","slug":"mwc-barcelona","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":9669,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15400,"count":41,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15470,"name":"MWC Doha","slug":"mwc-doha","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15472,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15400,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15402,"name":"MWC Shanghai","slug":"mwc-shanghai","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15404,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15400,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15388,"name":"Network Capabilities","slug":"network-capabilities","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15390,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15314,"count":21,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15387,"name":"Network Slicing","slug":"network-slicing","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15389,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15384,"count":6,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15389,"name":"Network Transformation (APIs)","slug":"network-transformation","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15391,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15314,"count":10,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15397,"name":"Networks for AI","slug":"networks-for-ai","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15399,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15395,"count":5,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15385,"name":"NTN \/ Satellites","slug":"ntn-satellites","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15387,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15384,"count":11,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15399,"name":"Open Gateway - Supply","slug":"open-gateway","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15401,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15398,"count":10,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15277,"name":"Operator Platform Group","slug":"operator-platform-all-projects","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15279,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15398,"count":30,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15465,"name":"OPG","slug":"opg","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15467,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15464,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15461,"name":"Press release","slug":"press-release","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15463,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15457,"count":0,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15386,"name":"Private Networks","slug":"private-networks","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15388,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15384,"count":13,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":8974,"name":"RCS","slug":"rcs","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":8976,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15391,"count":162,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15466,"name":"RCS","slug":"rcs-working-group-resources","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15468,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15464,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":9702,"name":"RCS Business Messaging Labs","slug":"rcs-business-messaging-labs","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":9704,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":8974,"count":6,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":9666,"name":"RCS Demos and Case Studies","slug":"rcs-demos-and-case-studies","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":9668,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":8974,"count":58,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":9226,"name":"RCS Documents","slug":"rcs-documents","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":9228,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":8974,"count":66,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15462,"name":"Resource","slug":"resource","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15464,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15457,"count":8,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15457,"name":"Resource Type","slug":"resource-type","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15459,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":15,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":8975,"name":"Resources","slug":"resources","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":8977,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":310,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15392,"name":"Roaming","slug":"roaming","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15394,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15390,"count":0,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15467,"name":"Specification","slug":"specification","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15469,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15457,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15401,"name":"Technology Infrastructure","slug":"technology-infrastructure","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15403,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15286,"name":"Telco Edge Cloud","slug":"telco-edge","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15288,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15390,"count":25,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15473,"name":"Topic","slug":"topic","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15475,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15394,"name":"Tower & Fibre","slug":"tower-and-fibre","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15396,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15401,"count":5,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15474,"name":"Tower Infrastructure","slug":"tower-infrastructure","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15476,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15473,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15469,"name":"Towers","slug":"towers","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15471,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15468,"count":0,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15463,"name":"Video","slug":"video","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15465,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15457,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":8982,"name":"VoLTE","slug":"volte","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":8984,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15391,"count":9,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15393,"name":"VoWiFi","slug":"voice-over-wifi","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15395,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":15391,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15331,"name":"Wiki","slug":"wiki","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15333,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":48,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15464,"name":"Working Group Resources","slug":"working-group-resources","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15466,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gsma_theme_resources\/39355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gsma_theme_resources"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/gsma_theme_resources"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gsma_theme_resources\/39355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39355"},{"taxonomy":"resource_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource_categories?post=39355"},{"taxonomy":"algolia_discover_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/algolia_discover_type?post=39355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}